New deals and opportunities

👋 Good morning, and welcome to (or welcome back to) VTJ’s Sunday Briefing: your weekly digest of the city’s innovation news, deals, insights, and more.

We launched some new spotlight series on VTJ dot com this week that you should check out. If you want to be featured or know someone doing something cool, talk to me at our weekly coffee meetup or email me.

Now onto today’s briefing. It’s 1,014 words: a 3.5-min read.

-Lisa

🗞️ FROM VTJ

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SPONSORED BY INNOVATEWEST

Guy Kawasaki To Kickstart INNOVATEwest!

INNOVATEwest proudly announces Guy Kawasaki as the opening keynote speaker. The legendary Chief Evangelist of Canva and former Apple influencer, Guy is a beacon of tech innovation and modern marketing wisdom. His illustrious career, marked by transformative ideas and 15 influential books, has redefined industry standards and inspired global audiences. From revolutionizing Apple's approach to democratizing design through Canva, Guy's insights promise to ignite the spark of creativity in every attendee. Join us to be part of the next wave of innovation led by the visionary Guy Kawasaki.

Join Guy Kawasaki at IW.

🤝 FUNDING & DEALS

• Elevated Signals, a process-management platform for agriculture and manufacturing, raises $7.9 million in series A funding.

• Sonus Microsystems, which makes ultrasound technology optimized for remote monitoring, raises $2.1 million in pre-seed funding.

• AlayaCare, a home care technology platform, announced a $3.2 million project to drive AI solutions in Canadian home care.

• VC firm, Zenith Venture Studio, is looking to invest in and help build AI startups led by domain experts.

Get the latest funding and deals announcements and stories curated in our Members-only Morning Report.

SPONSORED BY FASKEN

Elevate Your AgTech & FoodTech Ventures

The AgTech and FoodTech markets are extremely competitive, with innovation at their core. These specialized areas require experienced counsel who understand the current and future value of your business’s assets. Choose Fasken. Their AgTech and FoodTech team supports clients across Canada, in all stages of growth; from startup, to scale-up, to exit.

🗞️ IN OTHER NEWS

• VC Firm, Golden Ventures, hosted its first Vancouver ‘Plated dinner Series,’ bringing together founders and CEOs to discuss leadership and scaling local startups to the world stage.

• FoundersBoost Vancouver, an accelerator program for pre-seed stage startups, is now accepting new applications until Mar. 13.

• CBC’s Dragons’ Den is holding auditions for their 19th season. They’ll be in Kelowna on March 7 and Vancouver on March 9-10. Apply here.

• In non-tech news, Georgia Straight launched their 27th Annual Golden Plates Awards, celebrating the best in Vancouver’s food scene. Nominate your favourite restaurants now.

💡 IDEAS & INSIGHTS

• Simran Kang, founder and CEO of MyFO, joined Evan McCann on The Hard Part podcast, talking about family offices, raising money, dealing with hard times, and more.

• Carina Kom, co-founder of the new video game studio, Simply Sweet Games, answers the most pressing questions in response to officially launching.

• Kaylee Lieffers, founder of Blanka, an e-commerce marketplace that offers on-demand access to private-labeled products, highlights takeaways from the Angel Forum Vancouver summit.

• Amer Abu-Khajil, shares his journey from being an Amazon product manager to the founder of Perceptional, a tool that deploys an AI chatbot to conduct qualitative user interviews and deliver data and actionable insights.

• Toast members have received an average 25% salary increase when negotiating for a new role. Let us help you get that bread.*

*Sponsored listing

SPONSORED BY CBRE

Are your office needs changing?

Connect with The High Technology Facilities Group at CBRE Ltd. – leaders in sourcing office space for BC’s startup and unicorn companies. The HTFG excels at helping clients find unique workspaces that drive productivity, reflect values, attract top talent, and fuel workplace culture.

Check out how The HTFG can help, or reach out to Alain, Blair, Kevin or Andre from The HTFG.

👀 CAN’T MISS

Vancouver Founders Huddle. Looking for feedback, advice, or support for your startup? The Founders Huddle is a safe space to get mentorship from fellow founders and investors. Tuesday from 6-8pm.

• Tickets

Women In Venture Capital. Learn from local, high-profile female investors on how they’ve raised their funds, challenges they’ve faced, market predictions, and more. Wednesday from 9:30-11:30am.

• Register

Canadian Tech Founders Social. Network with industry partners and founders to share ideas and build lasting relationships. Wednesday from 5-7:30pm.

• Tickets

#VTJTalks: Can B.C. healthcare “move fast and break thing” or is there a better way to innovate? Join Dr. Steve Reynolds and Loki Jorgenson at this event about pulling innovations into the healthcare system. Tuesday, March 12 from 4:45-6:45pm.

• Tickets (VTJ Members, see your 50% discount code below)

👋 YOUR COMMUNITY

🗣 Online

Join 1,000+ people in our VTJ Slack and connect with others in the community.

Reply back if you need an invite!

🤝 At the office

Job hunting? See 80+ roles open right now on VancouverTechJobs.com from companies like Asana, TikTok, Motorola, EA, Procurify, and more.

Hiring? Post your job today.

🗓️ In real life

See our local community calendar at VancouverTechEvents.com.

That’s it!

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